With effective influencer marketing strategies in place, businesses are guaranteed an increase in brand awareness, build trust, and possess an outsized market of relevant audiences. Influencers are the right hands of marketers. They are a means of communicating more effectively with a brands’ target market. In our society today, the majority of people research and make purchasing decisions on social media. They use various platforms to conclude whether to buy a certain product or service or not. Based on statistics, about 49% of consumers make purchases based on influencer recommendations.
Influencer marketing opens chances for brands to raise more brand awareness, establish valuable partnerships, boost their sales and grow other marketing campaigns like SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). So if your business is ready to reap the rewards of influencer marketing, here are 8 strategies to consider. You can read more on what is influencer marketing and how does it work?
1. Write Down Your Business Goal
Having a clear goal is one of the primary influencer marketing strategies to consider. Outlining your business goals at an early stage of planning will guide you toward achieving a successful influencer campaign. It is also vital to have a clearly defined target audience. Ensure to determine their demographics in terms of age, gender, income, marital status, education level, location, and more. Have in mind the type of content to create for effective influencer collaboration and outline the metrics you would use to measure the campaign at the end. Here are some goals to consider for your marketing strategy:
- Building brand awareness
- Brand identity
- Engagement rate
- Lead Generation
- Sales
- Client Loyalty
- Link Building
2. Assign Budget for the Campaign
Budgets are set at the campaign level to dictate what proportion you are willing to spend on influencer campaigns over a given period. There are several pricing models marketers use to determine the compensation amount. It could be a practical upfront payment model. Allocate a set compensation amount for each blog post, social media post, video, or other content delivered. By doing so your business won’t have to assign more budget if your influencer campaign turns out to be wildly effective. Influencer campaigns can also be priced based on any of the following:
- Cost per Engagement (CPE) – the number of likes, shares, or comments
- The Cost per Acquisition (CPA) – the quality of sales or generated leads
- Cost per Click (CPC) – number of actions taken when consumers view and interact with influencers.
3. Search for Influencers That Fit Your Brands’ Criteria
With a clear goal and budget in place, it’s time to look for the right influencer that suits your business needs. There are several ways to research and identify influencers. You could use the demographic data method, the target market research method, or manually use the search tool of Google or Facebook to do research. You could also use alternative search engines (link) to find influencers that competitors might have missed.
Most influencers are categorised by their most popular social platform, but a lot are seeing the need to advertise on other platforms. This diversity gives both the influencer and the brand they are sponsoring a chance to promote across multiple channels.
When selecting the ideal influencer for your brand, go in for someone who has a similar connection to what you are offering. For example, if you sell trainers, it would be ideal to partner with an influencer in the sporting industry like a footballer, basketballer, tennis player, and more. And also, based on your budget level, you would be able to identify which type of influencer to use. They are in different categories;
Mega-influencers: (more than 1 million followers)
Macro-influencers: (100K – 1 million followers)
Micro-influencers: (10K – 100K followers)
Nano-influencers: (1K to 10K followers)
5. Find the Right Platform & Focus on a Niche
If your business is spreading itself thin on different social networks, it might miss out on connecting with its true audience. Another successful influencer marketing strategy is knowing who your true audiences are and where they are hanging out. Ask yourself if they are Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (millennials), Gen Z, or Gen A? Your targetted population will determine the platforms you should focus on. You would notice that most famous influencers try to integrate content across different channels like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Youtube, and more. Each platform is suited to different formats, approaches, and audiences. Your brand needs to consider all this because it informs your influencer marketing strategy.
6. Decide on the Campaign Content Strategy
Content is key! The kind of content strategy you will create for your brand will be determined by the social media platform you chose above. There are many different content strategies you can opt to meet your business goals such as:
Social Media Mentions: Asking influencers to mention your brand, share your content, or post about your products/services.
Gifting: Offering free products and services to an influencer in exchange for a review or mention on their platforms.
Host giveaways: Running a contest and asking influencers to share your giveaway event with their audiences.
Giving discount codes: Here you can give an influencer a unique discount code for your product or service. They will promote and offer it to their audience.
Guest Blogs: this strategy allows you to partner with influencers. They will create content that will be featured on your website, their website, or a third-party website.
Creating content in collaboration with influencers, and more.
Here you will have to determine whether your influencer will be creating content for your campaign on their own or you will work with your marketing team to develop your campaign messaging. But if the influencer is the creator of the content, then be sure to share your brand guidelines, the brand voice, tag lines, and language to avoid.
7. Finalise Campaign Expectations & Have an Agreement
As a business, what you’re expecting out of influencer marketing might be different from that of the chosen influencer you want to work with. You should ensure all expectations are written, agreed upon, and signed by both the influencer and your business.
8. Measure the Performance of Your Influencer Campaigns
Lastly is the measurement of campaign performance. The key to success is determined by if your brand has reached its influencer marketing goals. Refer back to the SMART goals and influencer metrics you set to see whether you’ve achieved your objectives or not. When measuring your influencer marketing strategies’ success, it is necessary to keep an eye on the following:
- Engagement Rate (likes, comments, and shares)
- Post Reach (number of views)
- Brand Awareness
- Number of Clicks
- Resonance (completed actions)
- Return On Investment (ROI)
- Number of new followers
- Conversion Rate
Influencer marketing is becoming more of a trend in the advertising industry. There are lots of benefits your business will gain when you collaborate with the right influencers.